At the recent Money 20/20 conference, Uber announced Uber Money, a new division within the ride-hailing firm. Afterwards, Ron Shevlin – the Chief Research Officer at Cornerstone Advisors sat down with Peter Hazlehurst, Head of Uber Money, to discuss the new features and improvements which include:
Debit account and card. The company is integrating its Uber debit account, provided by Green Dot, into the Uber Driver app. Cash-back on gas purchases start at 3% and go up to 6% for “Diamond” tier drivers.
Mobile wallet. The updated Uber Wallet will enable earners to manage and and move their money in one place, and will start rolling out in the Uber Driver app in the next few weeks.
Credit card. With the relaunched Uber credit card, cardholders will receive 5% back in Uber Cash from spending across the Uber platform, including Uber Rides, Uber Eats, and JUMP bikes and scooters.
Banking underserved drivers. According to Hazlehurst, 60% of Uber drivers go negative on their accounts six times a month. That might not be an issue with the new Debit account: if those drivers make enough trips, overdraft fees will be waived. Uber is also participating in a BlackRock initiative looking at how to motivate people (i.e., Uber drivers) to save.
Remittances. Hazlehurst said that some Uber drivers send up to 25% of their income back to their home countries. With Uber’s international presence (i.e., global treasury operations), the firm is well-positioned to provide money transfer services directly through the driver app.
Lending. Hazlehurst said that lending isn’t on the road map right now, but that the firm is testing microloans. It’s just a matter of time before Uber is lending. Similar to how Amazon uses cash flow data to determine which merchants to make cash advances, Uber Money will use data about drivers’ income and cash flow to make smart lending decisions.
„There are a lot of important financial problems out there waiting to be solved with a yet-to-be-embedded financial product. But with a growing array of simple-to-use FinTech tools that can build banking in minutes, any non-financial company can start embedding financial products where they make sense.” said Peter.
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Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
